by Road Warrior
“If you bastards are going to come at me like this, then I also have my own plans.”
Sungtek ordered for the guest he had secretly accommodated at the palace to be brought before him. A strange being with the wings of a bat, hooves of a goat, and the head of a human was brought to his audience chamber. Surprisingly, the guest was a demon.
“Have you finally made a decision?” the demon quietly asked in a soothing voice which was pleasing to the ears.
A crease appeared on Sungtek’s forehead. It was possible that this decision would destroy all the reputation and renown he had accumulated over the years. However, when he thought about it, did any of those have any value?
The children I sired in Other World have died from the curse and even my little Ahram brought to the Summoning Palace was killed pitifully by the brats of the other bastards. And now even Martin Breggas, that son of a whore who couldn’t look me in the eye, wishes for my ruin.
It didn’t take long for Sungtek to reach a conclusion. He raised his head and gathered his hands before speaking in a quiet voice to the demon standing in the corner.
“… I will collaborate with your king. However, do not forget to fulfill your end of the bargain.”
Eight years ago, the Thirteen Champions of the Continent agreed to prolong the approaching Calamity at the first stage, which seemed the most manageable, and set this plan into motion. A single Champion had opposed obstinately and deserted the group in the process, but the Calamity was managed smoothly over the past eight years, and those in power enjoyed great wealth and prosperity no different than before.
However, the Calamity cannot be stopped. The words ”cannot be stopped” actually included the fact that it also cannot be delayed, but the people often thought of these two ideas as separate things. The Calamity that the people mistakenly believed was postponed would continue to grow stronger and stronger until it broke free and was unleashed upon the world even more violently than before.
–
The meteor fell from the sky and critically struck the Deep Sea Demon. Successive meteors fell without any additional Aria. The number of echoes had naturally increased as his Magic Power grew. Sungchul, who was getting close to reaching the value of 500 for Magic Power, gained an additional 2 echoes for every spell that he had cast. In other words, two additional meteors would fall for every single cast.
“Guwaaaaa…”
The Deep Sea Demon could not endure the consecutive blows from the powerful meteor. This meant that Sungchul, who used to beat up the Deep Sea Demon once a week, now had to change his schedule to beating it up once every 2 weeks. If he went any further, he might end up killing the demon.
If it were possible to land a meteor on the Demon King, then seeking him out now wouldn’t be a problem, thought Sungchul.
The Meteor’s offensive might belonged to highest tier in magic. The greatest problem was with its accuracy. But if it were to hit, it might even be enough to critically injure the Demon King when combined with the echo effects. However, Sungchul did not rush forward.
Intuition is going to hit 500 soon.
Currently, it was sitting at 479. A month and two weeks had passed since he left the Tower of the Devil Worshippers, but he only managed to raise his Intuition by 2. He thankfully had Alchemy to raise it by that much, because otherwise, his growth would have stopped completely. And as a result, he was also about to complete a quest of the Path of the Creationist after a long while.
“More! A bit more!”
Sungchul felt his enormous magic power being drained away as he mightily stirred the cauldron. He could smell a unique scent emanating from Eckheart’s Portable Alchemic Cauldron before a blinding light poured out to signify the success of a creation.
[Synthesis Success!]
Sungchul confirmed the message that appeared before his eyes as he held up the new Alchemic item within his cauldron. It was a statue of a duck radiating a golden light. Sungchul had improved from being limited to altering simple characteristics of ingredients to being able to create specific forms using the Alchemic Cauldron.
[Golden Duck]
Level: 4
Grade: B
Attribute: Gold
Type: Everyday Item
Note: Floats when placed in the bath.
“…”
It was a relatively useless item. It radiated with blinding golden light, looked adorable, and floated on water despite the material it was made of, but it didn’t have any more significance than a useless trinket. There were too many items in Alchemy that weren’t helpful in combat.
Despite this fact, Sungchul continued to pump out items in order to complete Bertelgia’s Illustrated Alchemic Collection Journal. He had finally managed to complete everything that Bertelgia had categorized as basic Alchemy. And the rewards were now about to be unveiled.
“Hm Hm. You’ve done well. You’ve finally taken a step onto the true path of Creationist from being a human butcher!”
A strange light poured out from Bertelgia’s body as she fluttered in the air and enveloped Sungchul’s body. Sungchul finally witnessed the long awaited message within its splendor.
[You have followed the great legacy of the Eighth Hero, Eckheart, and succeeded in recreating some of his great inventions.]
[Ordinary Collection Journal Complete!]
Reward:
Magic Power +20
Intuition +20
Eckheart’s Collection Notebook
Sungchul immediately brought up his stats.
[Stats]
Strength 999+ Dexterity 853
Vitality 801 Magic Power 494
Intuition 499 Magic Resist 622
Resilience 502 Charisma 18
Luck 18
“Mmmm…”
He was 1 short. He was 1 short of hitting 500. As had he managed to raise his Intuition through Alchemy 3 days ago, it would take three weeks minimum and a month maximum of Alchemy to raise it once again.
“How is it? How do you feel taking in the knowledge of the Creationist?” Bertelgia spoke proudly.
“Very unhappy,” replied Sungchul.
“W-What? What did you just say?!”
“I didn’t mean that. I’m just a bit short on my stats.”
Sungchul sighed as he gazed out towards the Demon Realm’s sky. Deep regret welled in his heart. If everything had gone according to plan, he would have killed Hesthnius Max today and resolved the first Calamity. His plans had gone awry due to his unexpectedly stunted growth.
Sungchul calmed his turbulent heart and gathered the other reward that had fallen beside his feet. It was a small book which he opened immediately. It was filled with illustrations and microscopic letters written in ink that moved freely in the pages. Sungchul read one of the passages.
[… Ogres of the Foggy Mountain Range sleep on beds of rock. To human eyes, the bed of rock may appear like any other bed of rock, but to Ogres, they have some standards with which they rate these rocks. They rated excellent beds of rock with stars. And the more stars it was rated, the better it was. Upon the great bed of rock, there are…]
Sungchul read up to that point and put the book down. It prattled on pointlessly, but Eckheart’s Collection Notebook appeared to be some kind of guide with the locations of rare alchemic ingredients recorded within. The problem was that the era in which Eckheart lived and the current era in which Sungchul lived had a vast gap in time.
“… I can’t use this.”
There were major differences even in that page he had just read. There were no longer any Ogres living in the Foggy mountains in Sungchul's era. Through frequent subjugation by the humans and enslavement of the orcs, it had been a long time since the Ogre Kingdom had vanished.
Sungchul placed the notebook into his Soul Storage and grabbed the duck before leaving.
“You didn’t like Papa’s notebook? He might be a worthless person, but his information is real!” Bertelgia followed behind and spoke in a sullen tone, but Sungch
ul didn’t pay them any mind. He arrived at a hot spring that reeked of sulfur. It was a bath that he occasionally visited.
Sungchul tossed away his clothes.
“Oh my God!” exclaimed Bertelgia as she quickly hid herself behind a tree, and when she sneakily peeked from one side, the hardened body of a man veiled by steam came into her sight. The countless scars and burns across his wide back appeared like medals for Sungchul who lived a life of conflict.
Sungchul immersed his body into the hot spring and floated the golden duck that he had just created. The golden duck that had been made entirely of gold surprisingly began to float around Sungchul’s vicinity.
“It really does float.” An amused smile slipped onto Sungchul’s lips. Cries of demons rang out from a distance, souring the mood, but overall, it was a decent bath. Sungchul closed his eyes and let time slip by.
It wasn’t clear how much time had passed since that moment, but a muffled explosion could be heard from the southeast side. It was in the direction of the fortifications along the Storm Battlefront. He tried to ignore the noise, but the sound of explosions continued and he could hear the faint sound of drums.
Did a battle break out? Can’t be. I didn’t notice any activity from the Demon army to the north.
He felt a terrible premonition.
***
Sungchul dressed himself and hurried toward the tallest peak in his vicinity at once. He was able to look over a large area once he climbed the perilous peak known as the Palm Tree Peak, named for its likeness to a palm tree. The dwarven fortress was one of the areas visible from the vantage point.
Sungchul found the dwarven fortress within the mountain range that seemed to unfold endlessly before him without much difficulty. This was because the fortress stood at the base of a column of black smoke rising into the sky.
Suspicion rose within Sungchul’s mind. Were they attacked from the rear?
The battle was taking place in the Southern and Eastern flanks where the defenses were weaker, instead of the North, which was the front. However, the Southern and Eastern directions were supposed to be protected by their allies. Especially the East, which was the region under the jurisdiction of the Order of the Iron Blood Knights. An assault from that side meant the Order of the Iron Blood Knights had already fallen.
Now that I think about it, I had heard from several sources that the state of the Order of the Iron Blood Knights wasn’t good. But still…
The defensive focus of the Storm Battlefront lying deep within this perilous mountain range was incomparably narrower than the Order of the Iron Blood Knights that defended an open field. The fact that the demons were able to attack all the way here meant that aside from the last line of defense of the Order of the Iron Blood Knights, the Fortress of the Iron Blood Cross, all other defensive positions were overrun by the enemy.
“…”
The front lines of the Demon Realm were being shaken, and if they crumbled, humans of Other World would witness true hell.
“What will you do?” Bertelgia asked while looking down on the burning fortress below.
Sungchul pulled out something from his Soul Storage. It wasn’t Fal Garaz that he favored, but a discolored and worn-out iron sword. “We’re helping the Dwarves.”
“Huh? What miracle brought this on? You’re actually helping other people?”
“I owe the dwarves a debt.”
Before he became the Enemy of the World, Sungchul had maintained an amicable relationship with the dwarves. It was a part of this goodwill that allowed them to share their secret of where Fal Garaz had been hidden. Unfortunately, it was this show of good faith that had been turned against them. The collapse of the entire front line of the Demon Realm was not something Sungchul desired at the moment.
There is a need to maintain the current status quo before the approaching battle against the Seven Heroes. It will be the responsibility of the humans and their allies to restrict the movement of the Seven Heroes.
Sungchul headed toward the burning fortress with the iron sword in hand.
An intense battle was unfolding around the entire fortress. Dwarven artillery rained down fire upon the demon forces, while the Hell Siege Engines of the demons answered back with flames of destruction. The artillery that the dwarves were so proud of remained standing, but the fort walls were crumbling under the assault of the Hell Siege Engines, which allowed the demons to find the opportunity to latch their ladders onto the walls. The Dwarven Axemen desperately tried to chop down the ladders, but the demons positioned below the walls were not going to simply watch it happen. Hundreds of crossbow bolts flew toward the dwarves.
“Guwaaa!”
The dwarves that had been chopping down the ladders were struck by these bolts and fell down the dizzying heights of the castle walls. The devils that were watching the scene felt their morale soar, causing them to shout or howl in cheer. “Press harder!”
Leading the demons was a Balroq with massive wings dressed with a white gold helmet. The devil, which held a whip reminiscent of the Demonic Weapon Cassandra, roamed the skies while commanding his men for battle.
The flames of the Hell Siege Engines continued to roar ceaselessly, and dozens of ladders flew toward the castle walls in response to the siege.
“Stop them! Stop those bastards!”
The Dwarf commander could recognize that this was a critical moment for the battle, but they were outnumbered. The enemy came well prepared and had attacked from an unforeseen direction, and in contrast, the dwarves who had believed their flanks to be secure had only a few soldiers to defend with. And although they were fighting bravely, they could not help but steadily lose the fight.
It was at this moment when a massive magical formation appeared in the sky which was dyed red by the smoke and flames. The sole magic formation that appeared in the black, smoke-filled sky was connected to the great expanse of space beyond this world and interfered with the immeasurable universe to bring forth a fragment of the heaven, ejecting a meteorite. And this meteor landed on the heads of the demons that were densely packed beneath the castle walls.
BOOBOOOM!
It left behind a field of demon corpses in its wake. The core spell of Cosmomancy, Meteor, which had the most destructive might among all branches of magic, was on full display at the northern end of the battlefield.
Oh! Is it reinforcements?
The dwarven eyes that had been driven to despair were now filled with hope as they sought out the Mage. However, what they saw with their eyes wasn’t the army they desired, but only a single man standing on top of a steep mountain slope with a ragged coat fluttering in the wind and an iron sword in his hand. There also appeared to be a familiar in the form of a book flapping behind him, but the dwarves didn’t really care about that.
Sungchul did not activate the echoes. He wanted to land the most cost-effective blows possible out of consideration for his limitations with mana. Currently, Sungchul could only use Meteor a total of twenty times with his mana pool. Sungchul left Bertelgia to mind the remaining number and inserted himself into battle.
“Nineteen shots left!”
Sungchul took notice of Bertelgia’s shout as he turned his sights toward another area in danger to fire his Meteor. The punishment from the heavens dealt a heavy blow to the demons as their ladders and forces were left in shambles. His might was lacking when compared to going wild with Fal Garaz, but to the dwarves watching the scene, it was a refreshing sight; like a nourishing rain from the sky falling on land as dry as bone.
“What is that?! Take out that human!” The Barloq wearing the white gold helmet pointed his finger with a sharp nail in Sungchul’s direction as he shouted his order. A portion of the winged demons that had been roaming above the battlefield broke off to head toward Sungchul’s direction.
There were six in all. It may appear a small number, but to an average person, this was more than enough for the task. These demons, known as Raptor Gargoyles, were known for their p
eerless prowess in close quarter combat and also their naturally high vitality which made them highly effective against mages that had comparably terrible endurance.
The Raptor Gargoyles flapped their hideous bat-like wings to overwhelm Sungchul as they brandished their Scythes threateningly.
“Die, human!”
The dwarves looked on with expressions of concern from their fortress wall. In their eyes. Sungchul’s life looked to be in peril like a candle before the storm, but when the demons rushed forward, countless streams of light burst out from the man’s fingertip causing the demons to be burned away in an instant. The dwarves let out a cheer. It was a scene that was difficult to believe even as they witnessed it. A Cosmomancer, a class known to have notoriously poor melee capabilities, was overcoming Raptor Gargoyles, who were famous for their fearsome strength in close quarters, with what appeared to be simple magic.
The secret was in Sungchul’s hidden class.
[Echo – 2]
It would be pitifully lacking to kill the winged demon – raptor gargoyle with a single casting of Glare regardless of the number of times the spell had been empowered. However, what if Echo, which was the basic ability of the legendary class Echo Mage, was combined with Sungchul’s superhuman dynamic visual acuity and meticulous precision? The synergy between the three aspects produced a destructive might beyond a mere three castings of glare. The Raptor Gargoyles that were known to be “Nightmares of Close Quarter Combat” fell out of the skies as their weaknesses such as mouth, neck, and eyes were showered with beams of light at the same time.
“Hm Hm. Eighteen shots of Glare used. It’s probably a good idea to deduct at least three of the remaining Meteors!”
When Bertelgia began to shout haughtily, Sungchul looked down at the devil’s forces and spoke in a firm voice. “How many shots remaining?”